Student Financial Aid News

Notes from College Goal Sunday in Massachusetts:

1. Completed financial aid applications at a nearby community college are up 184% year over year; enrollments are up 30%, while state funding is down.

2. As the FAFSA changes more and more under the new Administration, the differences between federal methodology (which most public schools and community colleges use to determine your eligibility for aid) and institutional methodology (which many private schools use) are widening significantly, and in more than a few cases, methodologies have discrepancies in the thousands of dollars. What method of financial aid determination a school uses will increase the impact on your ability to afford those schools.

3. Virtually everyone is doing more with less. Be kind to your financial aid office.

4. Parents are increasingly choosing parent PLUS loans, even in cases where private student loans are cheaper, because of concerns that lenders will not be in business to fund the loans when school actually starts.

From the Great Falls Tribune:

Registered apprenticeship is an “earn while you learn” model that provides a combination of on-the-job learning and related classroom instruction in which workers learn the practical and theoretical aspects of a skilled occupation. Montana’s Apprenticeship and Training Program currently has more than 600 employer sponsors for approximately 1,500 registered apprentices working in 50 different occupations. In 2008, third-year apprenticeships averaged $18.30 per hour and the journeyman-level wage rate for most construction related crafts ranged from $22 – $40 dollars an hour.

Commentary

Interesting and useful that apprenticeships are making a return to the stage. Guilds and apprenticeships are a time honored tradition that make more sense now than ever for tradeskills, especially given college’s increasingly out of reach cost.

Scholarship Update

NECMA STUDENT SCHOLARSHIP

1. Must be a full time student enrolled in a Hospitality degree program, who has completed at least two (2) semesters of college with a minimum GPA of 3.0.
2. Work in the Hospitality industry and demonstrate an interest in pursuing a future in the field.
3. Be a Student Member of CMAA.
4. Provide a current official copy of your transcript and a letter of recommendation from at least one Club Manager and one Professor.

HOSPITALITY-FOOD SERVICE

1. Full time student in a degree program with a minimum 3.00 GPA.
2. Preference to students working in the Club Industry who demonstrate an interest in continuing to work in the field.
3. Provide a current official copy of your college transcript and a letter of recommendation from at least one Club Manager and one Professor.

Details at our free college scholarship search site.